Mysterious Ends
by BoatsAgainstTheCurrent
Summary: First it was Burt Jenkins, then Mary Guthrie, and now Jane Houston. Murdered, the lot of them. Castle Rock is under sheer panic. The population drops by the hundreds, but no one can seem to figure out... Who dun it?
1. Strange Happenings - Prologue

**Mysterious Ends**

**Castle Rock is overtaken with murder. First it was Burt Jenkins, then Mary Guthrie, and now Jane Houston. Though there have been a few suspects already, none are found guilty and no one can seem to figure out...**

**Who done it?**

**Hello my friends! So yesterday I went to a school play, a murder mystery, and instantly became inspired to write my own. I hope you enjoy and I always really appreciate any suggestions you guys have for me. Thanks!**

**Ch. 1 - Strange Happenings **

With the steady ring of murders happening in Castle Rock, Gordie was unable to focus. He sat in his room staring at the blank page in front of him, his pen lying nicely on top of it. Every time he tried shaking the horrifying thoughts out of his mind, they crept back in and kept him from writing. It didn't help that Chris was chewing loudly on jelly beans on Gordie's bed. But besides the crinkling of the jelly bean bag, the room was awkwardly silent, with only the boys and their thoughts occupying it.

* * *

Starting on June 30th of 1964, the death toll of Castle Rock began a steady increase. It commenced with the murder of an innocent seven year old boy named Burt Jenkins. He was well known in the town, playing little league football at his grade school, dreaming of being in the big leagues. His idol was none other than Denny Lachance, the passed on older brother of Gordie Lachance.  
Burt Jenkins was shot on his lawn in the afternoon of the 30th. He was found sprawled near a bush, clutching his most prized possession (a football), with a hole in his stomach.

The next day, the town's residents were hopping with fear and uncertainty. On the street, people passed each other with caution. Some whispered to others.

"Oh my, the poor boy. He was so young."

"It brings back memories of that poor boy five years ago who was killed by that train, Ray Brower."

"Castle Rock has never faced such a tragedy. It's just so sad. Who would do this to an innocent little seven year old?"

Questions circled the town. Curiosity and fear lurked around every corner.  
People stayed in their homes, occasionally peeking through their curtains, hiding from the world.  
Castle Rock had never seemed so abandoned and lonely, but the question of who was eating at people like moths.

For a week, police were the only ones on the streets. The people at home stuck to their radios and television sets, anticipating the latest news on the murderer.

"What does he look like?"

"I bet you it's that up-to-no-good Ace and his tag along friends."

"How did no one witness it?"

Accusations swirled from house to house. Some stopped trusting their friends. Some accused the obvious troublemakers. Some suspected the most introverted of the town's people.  
But for a week, nothing was certain. The police picked around the subject, trying to find a proper suspect. Naturally, Ace was the first to be confronted, but at least ten people reassured the fuzz that he had been playing pool at noon on June 30th.

The search continued.  
After a tense seven days of searching and wondering, another murder made the evening news. This time it was an 87 year old woman by the name of Mary Guthrie who had lived a quiet life up on the view. She lived in a beautiful but humble home, with only her two cats to keep her company. They two were found dead on the evening of July 7th, 1964, closely held in the arms of their owner.

A much stronger panic eclipsed the small town of Castle Rock. The previous population of 1200 dropped to 1183 over night, and continued to decrease thereafter. Within two weeks of the second murder, only 1100 were left.

People flipped coins to see who would have to leave the house to get groceries when they ran out. Many students were pulled out of school, so that only a few brave souls were left in the classrooms. Even the teachers fled like rats.

The prospect of death overtook everyone's life. Daily doings had ceased to exist. Diners and stores and laundromats went out of business. Often the only sound that could be heard from the outside world was the passing of funeral cars or the dreaded police siren.

For two more weeks, the murderer went unfound. A couple of suspects had been tried, giving the town a sprinkle of relief, but neither were found guilty.

The town fell back into a spiral. After the trials, a third person, by the name of Jane Houston, was found dead under a bridge. She was only thirteen. Castle Rock's residents were now in sheer survival mode. The population dropped another 100 overnight.

* * *

It was now August 1st as Gordie sat, not quite stilly, in his room with Chris.  
Both were utterly silent.  
Both were thinking the same thing.  
"Who the hell could it be?"

**Thanks for reading. So who do you think it is? And again, I always appreciate suggestions. If you're interested in this even having a bit of supernatural or fantasy-like happenings in it, tell me. Thanks again!**


	2. Green Keds

**Hello FanFiction friends! I give you Ch. 2 of Mysterious Ends. I'm excited to write more, something that will 98% positively happen over the holiday break. For now, I hope you enjoy this chapter :) **

**Ch. 2 - Green Keds **

Gordie didn't want to take a walk.  
"Are fucking crazy?" He asked in disbelief as he sat on his bedroom floor surrounded by books. "You're completely mental," he shook his head as if answering his own question.  
"You don't think I already know that? Come on, we're taking a walk," Teddy insisted, dragging Gordie by both hands out of his bedroom door. Gordie struggled as best he could, kicking and screaming like a child, cursing like a fucking sailor, and bombarding Teddy with insults like he was Teddy himself and Teddy was Vern.  
"Are you trying to get yourself murdered?!" He shouted, "Do you realize that already FOUR people are dead? If we take a walk we're practically screaming 'hey come and get us! We're right here!'"  
Gordie's face had turned tomato red and his eyes had practically already popped out of their sockets. Now it was Teddy's turn to say, "You're mental. I don't care, we're taking a walk. You wanna know why? Because you've been boxed up in this room for days and it's only feeding your madness. You need some fresh air. You look pale as ever."  
Gordie sighed, exhausted from the screaming and resisting being dragged. Teddy's biceps were really winning out. He held up a white sock from where he was sprawled and exclaimed his surrender.  
"Okay now get up and go pick up your dignity where you left it in your room."  
"Oh, look who's talking to me about dignity. You must of lost that thing the minute you opened your mouth to say your first words."  
"This isn't about me Gordie. Everyone knows that I've never even had dignity. You on the other hand, you're supposed to be Gordie Lachance, the serious, smart guy. You should have seen yourself just now, acting like a fucking baby elephant." He laughed a quick Teddy laugh, but it wasn't as loud and raspy-like as it once had been.  
"Whatever man, are we gonna get going or not? 'Cause, you know, I'm really quite eager to hunt down whoever's plotting the murder of everyone in town. I'm just so excited to end up with a bloody hole in my stomach!" He said sarcastically.  
"Oh relax. We're not gonna die. Chris and Vern are coming with us too."  
At this comment Gordie brightened a bit, knowing he'd be much less likely to be dead by evening if Chris Chambers was coming with, "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place. Let's go."  
And they strode towards the front door of the house.

* * *

The last time Gordie had stepped out into the air was the day of Candy Austen's death - August 10th, 1964. She had been in one of Teddy's shop classes the previous year and Vern had been completely in love with her, solely because of her first name. She had been a beautiful girl, one with dreams just as big as Chris' - of leaving behind her past in Castle Rock and finding a new life.  
It was now August 23rd and Gordie was feeling the fresh air for the first time in two weeks. He twitched as the sun found his face and warmed him.  
"That's better," Teddy patted him on the back, "I can already see your tan creeping over your paleness. Now let's go. Chris and Vern are at the tree house. Paratroops, advance!" He pointed a finger straight ahead and began to march along the street, his army boots echoing off of the trees.  
"Aren't you a bit old for all that ridiculous "paratroops" stuff?" Gordie asked, attempting to make conversation so he couldn't focus on the idea that he might be dead within minutes. He reacted to every sound, his neck turning from one way to the other, acting like an owl.  
"I think we are both well aware that I will always be the immature, insane and disturbing Theodore Duchamp you know and love." He winked.  
"Don't forget conceded, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, vain, egotistical, narcissistic, overly confident-"  
"Yeah yeah, I get it. Now come on, pick up your dogs and stop dragging like you just awoke from the dead."  
Gordie swiveled around and widened his eyes, putting a finger to his mouth and whispering "shh" as quietly as he could. "Are you crazy?! You can't talk about death out here."  
Teddy rolled his eyes, "Just move. We're almost to the tree house."  
What should have taken only half a minute, took two as Gordie scoured the dense woods on his way up the hill.  
Teddy made multiple comments, asking him to stop acting like Vern.  
"If you look into those trees one more time or stop to listen to the birds chirp, I'm going to be Castle Rock's new killer," he threatened.  
It shut Gordie up for the time being.

* * *

When at last they reached the tree house, Gordie fell to the ground in tiredness and sheltered himself from the sunlight by crawling behind the ladder and finding a nice cool hiding spot beside the tree trunk. It was awfully quiet in the vicinity, besides Teddy's footsteps crunching in circles around him. He watched the green keds go in loops and was about to yell out to him what the hell he was doing, when he realized...  
"What the hell? Teddy wasn't wearing keds today."  
His expression quickly went from questioning to horrified and his heart sped up to its limit.  
Silently and slowly he peaked out from behind the ladder, hearing the footsteps behind him, still making rounds.  
With all his courage, he crawled out from his hiding spot and stepped into the sunlight, expecting a firm grip to tighten around his shoulder the minute he did. But no such thing happened. Instead, the sound of footsteps disappeared and when Gordie swiveled to see the man in the keds all he saw was blue summer sky and greenery every which way. No sign of anyone, not even Teddy.  
The panicky feeling in his throat began to throb and he quickly scurried up the tree house ladder, undid the latch, and threw himself into the gloomy darkness.  
"What the hell?" He stumbled around, mumbling to himself, looking for the blinds covering the windows. Finally, he grasped at them and pulled upwards, allowing light to stream into the room.  
He sighed and allowed himself to fall to the boards. His breathing filled the room, but this was the only noise he heard.  
"Where IS everyone?" He thought to himself as he turned to his side and opened his eyes.  
There, lying next to him, was Vern, green eyes just centimeters away, boring holes into his face. He was utterly still and pale.  
Gordie jumped back in shock and choked on his throat.  
Then he heard a gunshot off in the distance.


End file.
